University of Melbourne

The University of Melbourne (informally Melbourne University or simply Melbourne) is an Australian public research university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Times Higher Education ranks Melbourne as 33rd in the world, while the QS World University Rankings places Melbourne 31st in the world. According to QS World University Subject Rankings 2015, the University of Melbourne is ranked 5th in the world for Education, 8th in Law, 13th in Computer Science & IT, 13th in Arts and Humanities, 14th in Dentistry and 18th in Medicine.Melbourne's main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb north of the Melbourne central business district, with several other campuses located across Victoria. Melbourne is a sandstone university and a member of the Group of Eight, Universitas 21 and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities. Since 1872 various residential colleges have become affiliated with the university. There are 12 colleges located on the main campus and in nearby suburbs offering academic, sporting and cultural programs alongside accommodation for Melbourne students and faculty.Melbourne comprises 11 separate academic units and is associated with numerous institutes and research centres, including the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research and the Grattan Institute. Amongst Melbourne's 15 graduate schools the Melbourne Business School, the Melbourne Law School and the Melbourne Medical School are particularly well regarded.Four Australian prime ministers and five governors-general have graduated from Melbourne. Seven Nobel laureates have been students or faculty, the most of any Australian university.The university's coat of arms is a blue shield on which a depiction of  Victory in white colour holds her laurel wreath over the stars of the Southern Cross. The motto, Postera crescam laude Later I shall grow by praise" or, more freely, "We shall grow in the esteem of future generations, is written on a scroll beneath the shield. The Latin is from a line in Horace's Odes: ego postera crescam laude recens.Melbourne University was established by Hugh Childers, the Auditor-General and Finance Minister, in his first Budget Speech on 4 November 1852, who set aside a sum of £10,000 for the establishment of a university. The university was established by Act of Incorporation on 22 January 1853, with power to confer degrees in arts, medicine, laws and music. The act provided for an annual endowment of £9,000, while a special grant of £20.000 was made for buildings that year. The foundation stone was laid on 3 July 1854, and on the same day the foundation stone for the State Library Classes commenced in 1855 with three professors and sixteen students; of this body of students, only four graduated. The original buildings were officially opened by the Lieutenant Governor of the Colony of Victoria, Sir Charles Hotham, on 3 October 1855. The first chancellor, Redmond Barry (later Sir Redmond), held the position until his death in 1880.The view of the Melbourne Law School, Business and Economics, The Spot and Alan Gilbert Building.The inauguration of the university was made possible by the wealth resulting from Victoria's gold rush. The institution was designed to be a "civilising influence" at a time of rapid settlement and commercial growth.In 1881, the admission of women was a seen as victory over the more conservative ruling council.The university's 150th anniversary was celebrated in 2003.
The university has 11 academic units, some of which incorporate a graduate school. The overall attrition and retention rates at the university are the lowest and highest respectively in Australia. The university has one of the highest admission requirements in the country, with the median ATAR of its undergraduates being 94.05 (2009). Furthermore, The university continued to attract outstanding students; for example, 50% of the Premier's VCE Top All-Round High Achievers enrolled at the University of Melbourne.According to the 2009 Times Higher Education–QS World University Rankings, Melbourne was then the only Australian university to rank in the top 30 in all five core subject areas with three subject areas ranked in the top 20.Researchers at the University of Melbourne have published a paper, ‘Vocational education's variable links to vocations’, that "considers the roles that tertiary education qualifications, in particular mid-level qualifications, play in assisting their graduates to gain entry to and progression in work and how they may be strengthened.